Long wavelength waveguide multiple quantum well optical modulators

The first measurements of large anisotropic modulation of long-wavelength light with a large on/off ratio and low driving voltage propagating along the plane of InGaAs/InAlAs multiple quantum well (MQW) structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are reported. Photocurrent response and optical modulation of waveguide pin diodes is measured for incident light polarization parallel and perpendicular to the MQW layers emitting from a color center laser. The incident-light power and wavelength dependence of on/off ratio are also determined.     

Migration of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde into mineral water in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles

The levels of formaldehyde (FA) and acetaldehyde (AA) in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and in commercial mineral water are reported. All the water samples bottled in Japan contained detectable levels of FA (10.1-27.9 μg l^-1) and AA (44.3-107.8 μg l^-1). Of 11 European bottled water samples, eight did not contain either FA or AA, while the remaining three had detectable levels of FA (7.4-13.7 μg l^-1) and AA (35.9-46.9 μg l^-1). In three North American bottled water samples, two contained FA (13.6 and 19.5 μg l^-1) and AA (41.4 and 44.8 μg l^-1), and one did not. Regardless of the region of origin, all the sterilized water samples contained FA and AA, whilst in contrast, none of the unsterilized water without carbonate contained FA or AA. Of the carbonated water samples, three contained FA and AA, and one did not. When fortified with FA and AA, the commercial water sample without otherwise detectable FA and AA was able to reduce levels, although the commercial water sample containing FA and AA could not. The presence of bacteria in the commercial water samples was investigated using an ATP-based bioluminescent assay and heterotrophic plate count method. The commercial water without FA and AA contained heterotrophic bacteria, whilst the commercial water with FA and AA did not contain detectable bacteria. It is suggested that in this case both FA and AA migrated from PET materials, but were subsequently decomposed by the heterotrophic bacteria in the unsterilized water.     

The JUSTSAP experiment on STS-95

An instrumented flow cell in the form of a cylinder with differentially heated end walls and adiabatic sidewalls was flown on STS-95 as the Japan-US Thermal Science Accelerometer Project (JUSTSAP). The purpose of the experiment was to map disturbances in the thermal field during the course of a Shuttle mission in order to correlated them with various mission events and to determine if any global transport could be detected from second order, non-zero time average flows resulting from periodic accelerations (g-jitter). Significant disturbances in the thermal field were noted each time the Shuttle changed attitude, such as the maneuver to -Z solar inertial, which is done periodically for thermal conditioning. Burns from the main thrusters associated with the launch and retrieval of the Spartan satellite produced overturning flows, as might be expected. During extended periods in which the attitude was held constant, the perturbations to the thermal field correlate extremely well with calculated accelerations from gravity gradient and drag. Fair agreement was found between the observed temperature perturbations and those predicted from a modification of the analytical model developed by Bejan and Tien (B&T) for the flow and heat transfer in an infinite cylinder with a constant axial thermal gradient. A full three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic analysis with more realistic thermal boundary conditions provided better agreement after adjustments were made to account for the heat flow away from the measuring thermistors. Once calibrated with a reliable thermal model, the flow cell was found to serve as a high-precision accelerometer, capable of measuring the quasi-steady acceleration with a sensitivity of better than 0.1 micro-g in the presence of the higher amplitude g-jitter typical of Shuttle operations. Further, it was found that the gravity gradient acceleration accounted for virtually all of the observed quasi-steady accelerations during such extended periods. The thermal response time of the JUSTSAP was too slow to expect to see the effects of fluctuating first order flows resulting from the vibrational environment of the Shuttle. However, an indication of a change in the thermal field near the ends of the flow cell was seen during periods of crew exercise that may possibly be attributed to circulating eddies resulting from the higher order terms in the momentum equation. At higher amplitudes, these second order effects can produce non-zero time average flows of a global nature, as can the start-up transients in first-order periodic flows. No such effects were observed, thus it is possible to place an upper limit on the integrated power spectral density of the vibrational environment experienced as well as the nature of the start-up transients of the periodic flows.     

The ignition front of a fuel jet flame stabilized by a step

For a fuel jet flame stabilized by a two-dimensional, backward-facing step exposed to a subsonic air stream, an experimental study was made of the dependence of the ignition front of the flame on various physical quantities, such as the width of the fuel nozzle, the height of the step, the boundary-layer thickness of the air stream at the step, and the velocity of fuel ejection of the outer air stream. Propane was ejected parallel to the air stream from the nozzle placed at the top of the step. It is shown that when the boundary layer of the air stream is laminar, the distance from the nozzle to the ignition front, x_t, is given by the equation,

$\frac{x_l^2}{{\delta }^{*}{b}_n}=\alpha \frac{U_f}{U_a}$

where b_n is the width of the fuel nozzle, U_f the fuel ejection velocity at the nozzle, U_a the outer stream velocity of the air, δ^* the displacement thickness of the boundary layer of the air stream at the step, and α a dimensionless experimental constant. The location of the flame front does not depend on the height of the step. Further, the length of the recirculation zone formed downstream of the step and the burning limits of the flame were measured.     

Effects of addition of hindered phenol compounds to a segmented polyurethane with shape memory on mechanical yielding

The mechanical yielding behavior of the shape memory polyurethane (SMP) and its composite samples were investigated to verify the effect of addition of hindered phenol. The composite samples were prepared using SMP as matrix and hindered phenol (AO-80) as filler, and then tensile tests were carried out at a range of temperatures and with different fixed crosshead speeds. According to the tensile data at 25 °C, the yield stress was increased by adding AO-80. In terms of the Eyring theory, the activation volume of deformation units decreased with increase of the amount of AO-80 added. This is because the packing of the hard segments is enhanced by addition of AO-80. Consequently, it was suggested that the yield process is caused by the rotation of hard segment domains within the deformed plastic domains composed of glassy soft segments.     

Abstracts

Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society -     

A new concept for the nuclear fuel recycle system: Application of the fluoride volatility reprocessing

Hybrid Recycle System (HRS) is proposed as an advanced recycle system. The HRS consists of improved fluoride volatility reprocessing and vibration packing MOX fuel fabrication processing. For the former, a part of U is volatilized as hexafluoride with diluted F₂ gas, and then residual U and Pu are volatilized with concentrated F₂ gas. Plutonium content of the mixed fluoride gas can be adjusted as desired by controlling the U fluorination reaction in the first step. The U is highly decontaminated and the mixture gas of UF₆ and PuF₆ is not purified. The fluoride mixture is reacted with H₂O and H₂ and directly converted to the mixed oxide grain for the vibration packing. The HRS can reduce the costs of reprocessing and fuel fabrication, the amounts of radioactive wastes and the probability of Pu proliferation.     

Azimuthal wave number control of oscillatory thermocapillary convection in a liquid bridge

Thermocapillary convection in a half‐zone liquid bridge of high Prandtl number fluid is widely known to exhibit a three‐dimensional oscillatory flow after the onset of oscillation. The oscillatory flow presents ‘standing’ and ‘traveling’ flows depending upon the temperature difference between the top and bottom rods. In the oscillatory state, the flow shows a modal structure with an azimuthal wave number that depends on the aspect ratio of the liquid bridge and the intensity of the thermocapillarity expressed by the Marangoni number. The present study attempted to control the azimuthal wave number by heating the free surface locally with a prescribed frequency and intensity. The flow in the liquid bridge exhibited different modal structures depending on the heating conditions and a relationship between the frequency and the modal structure was obtained. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 34(7): 460–469, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20086     

Effects of caffeine on event-related potentials: comparison of oddball with single-tone paradigms

A report is given of the 1st confirmed outbreak of Albizia versicolor poisoning in Malawi and the 1st natural outbreak reported in sheep and goats. Approximately 800 animals are estimated to have died over a 9-year period on a government farm near Lake Malawi. Deaths occurred exclusively from August to December when ripe dry pods that fell to the ground were ingested. The major clinical signs were hyperaesthesia, wild running, lateral recumbency with rapid leg movements, nystagmus and rapid blinking. Approximately 75% of clinical cases made a full and rapid recovery. Sheep more often showed signs of poisoning than goats which was attributed to inherent susceptibility rather than selective feeding. The majority of animals affected were under 1 year of age. A series of experiments was conducted and all animals dosed with 6.4 g/kg or more of dry pods died with typical clinical signs. Although A. versicolor is well known to the local population there appeared to be no appreciation of its toxicity. Poisonings are probably rare under traditional management systems.     

A new concept of nuclear fuel reprocessing by applying ion-exchange technology

The development of advanced technology for the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing should be achieved not only considering cost, non proliferation and reduction of radioactive wastes but also corresponding to both spent nuclear fuels of LWR and FBR.

We have proposed an ion exchange process for reprocessing using a new type ion exchanger developed to chemical method of U enrichment technology. This process possess possibility of a sharp cut in cost, since this ion exchanger is characterized by rapid adsorption-desorption rate dominating the treatment rate.

From the basic experimental results, this reprocessing process has been constructed by 3 ion exchanger columns which consist of a main separation column, the uranium-refining column and the plutonium-refining column.

Comparing ion exchange process with the conventional Purex process, this ion exchange process has many advantages such as the decrease in the number and size separation equipment, solvent-spent free and alkaline-liquid-spent free. With these advantages, this process is estimated that the construction cost of reprocessing process is greatly reduced comparing to the conventional process.